The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday lauded a change to World Health Organization (WHO) regulations that would require it to respond to calls for assistance from Taiwan in dealing with the SARS outbreak.
"This seems to provide a legal basis for exchanges between us and WHO over future work on SARS prevention and containment," Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said.
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's top decision-making body, passed a resolution on Tuesday requiring the WHO director-general to "respond appropriately to all requests for WHO assistance for SARS surveillance, prevention, and control."
According to Kau, Beijing failed in its attempts to insert in the resolution a phrase that would have made WHO assistance subject to "approval of the national government concerned."
But the US, Japan and Taiwan's diplomatic allies also failed to add a condition to the resolution that would have allowed Taiwan to take an active role in the WHO-led fight against SARS, Kau said.
A Central News Agency report from Geneva said Sha Zukang (沙祖康), China's representative to the UN in Geneva, expressed his anger at the passage of the resolution in his statement to the WHA meeting.
The foreign ministry said the resolution was a severe blow to Beijing's attempts to block any direct links between Taipei and the UN global health agency.
But Kau said it remained unclear how the head of the WHO would interpret the resolution if Taiwan sought help.
"It'll very much depend upon the WHO director-general's morals and courage," Kau said.
South Korean tuberculosis expert Lee Jong-wook will replace Gro Harlem Brundtland as head of the organization in July.
The Department of Health yesterday reported another 50 probable SARS cases, bringing the total to 660.
The number of deaths remained unchanged at 81.
The department said of the new cases, 40 were suspected SARS cases that had been reclassified as probable cases after doctors reviewed their files. The other 10 were new cases whose symptoms had developed during the previous 24 hours.
The department has reported an average of 10 new infections a day this week, compared with a record 65 new infections last Thursday.
Of the 660 probable cases, 122 had recovered, it said.
There are another 1,158 suspected cases -- patients with fevers and coughs but whose chest X-rays do not indicate pneumonia.
Health officials said some of these cases were being reviewed and may be reclassified as probable cases in the future.
However, an official at the Center for Disease Control said he did not expect many of the cases to be reclassified.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)